Study: Artemis II launch created ionospheric holes that disrupted GPS signals

A study by researchers from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan found that NASA's Artemis II moon launch created significant disturbances in Earth's ionosphere that could have triggered temporary, localized errors in GPS positioning.

Ionospheric disturbances

The researchers analyzed data from high-precision networks of fixed, ground-based GPS receivers used by U.S. scientific institutions to measure the minuscule motions of Earth's tectonic plates. By measuring how long it takes GPS signals to travel from space to ground stations, the researchers reconstructed how the passage of the Artemis II mission's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket changed the concentrations of free electrons in the ionosphere.

The measurements found that the ionospheric disturbances resulting from the Artemis II launch were more significant than any caused by other rocket launches to date and up to ten times more intense than those observed following the test launches of SpaceX's Starship, which is twice as powerful as the SLS based on liftoff thrust.

GPS positioning errors

During the mission's launch, ground-based GPS stations detected changes in the ionospheric electron density equivalent to positioning errors of several meters. Such inaccuracies could easily throw self-driving cars off track, potentially causing traffic collisions, according to Charles Lin, an earth science professor at National Cheng Kung University and one of the co-authors of the paper.

"A positioning error of a couple of meters is enough to cause an autonomous car to change lanes," Lin told Space.com. "It could have a strong impact not only on self-driving cars but also on drone positioning."

The study did not find any evidence that the mission caused any crashes or issues with self-driving cars and drones.

Two ionospheric holes

In the aftermath of the Artemis II launch, the researchers observed two such holes — one left behind by the 212-foot-long (65 meters) SLS core stage, and the other caused by two subsequent thruster burns of the rocket's upper stage. In both cases, these holes stretched across the American continent from East to West like giant 3,100-mile (5,000-kilometer) contrails.

Those two burns, at altitudes around 115 miles (185 kilometers), took place more than an hour after lift-off and allowed the Orion capsule to break free from Earth's gravity and head for the moon.

"Rocket launches from the ground to space produce that kind of effect, but we have never seen this kind of orbital maneuver in an interplanetary mission," said Lin. "In the future, as we are going to see many more missions going to the moon and to Mars, these space weather effects will become much more significant."

The study was published as a pre-print online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Why it matters

The findings show that a single rocket launch can create ionospheric disturbances large enough to affect GPS accuracy over a continental scale. As more missions head to the moon and Mars, researchers say these space weather effects could become more significant for technologies that rely on precise positioning, such as self-driving cars and drones.

---

Sources

• space.com: NASA's Artemis II moon launch tore a hole in Earth's upper atmosphere so huge it disrupted GPS signals | Space
• people.com: Space Mission Created ‘Hole’ in Atmosphere, Could Have Impacted GPS: Study
• qz.com: Artemis II launch disturbed the ionosphere: 5 findings from 1 study

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.